Gov. Mike DeWine has asked the Ohio legislature to abolish executions for good, saying the issue should go before the voters if lawmakers decide not to act.
In 1981, the longtime elected official, then an Ohio Senate member, voted for the law to reinstate the death sentence. Decades later, DeWine has changed his mind, he said Tuesday for the first time
鈥淭he moral justification I had,鈥� DeWine told a room of reporters, 鈥渘o longer exists.鈥�
As he gets ready to leave office, DeWine has long hinted at coming out against the practice of the death penalty. He鈥檚 delayed each scheduled execution date since becoming governor in January 2019鈥攕ome, more than once.
鈥淭hese crimes are horrendous, and they must be gut-wrenching for the victims鈥� families,鈥� DeWine said. 鈥淲e know, anecdotally, that many of the victims鈥� family members want to see the convicted killer executed. We also know that some family members of victims do not want to see an execution.鈥�
The statewide moratorium has been due, in part, to pharmaceutical companies鈥� opposition to use of their products in the drug concoction that creates a lethal injection, DeWine said. Prosecutors and lawmakers who are for continuing executions say that is an excuse.
鈥淭he idea that every other state can find these drugs, but gee shucks, in Ohio, we鈥檙e not able to?鈥� Rep. Brian Stewart (R-Ashville) said in an interview Tuesday afternoon.
More than 100 men and one woman are incarcerated on death row in Ohio, according to Department of Rehabilitation and Correction .
Their wait time now stretches longer than 20 years, with more and more inmates dying from natural causes or by suicide than from their death sentences, according to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost鈥檚 . The state ranks 12th of 28 states.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 actually begrudge the fact that carrying out a sentence takes some time,鈥� Stewart said. 鈥淏ut a lot of these delays are artificial.鈥�
But with fewer death sentence indictments decade after decade, even before he issued dozens of stays, DeWine said they are not deterring murder.
鈥淚 do not believe that argument today can be successfully made, nor do I believe there鈥檚 any chance in the future,鈥� he said.
Like him, a growing contingent of GOP lawmakers favor abolishing executions, but House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) has said it鈥檚 not a majority of his caucus.
DeWine declined to comment Tuesday on whether he would grant some death row inmates clemency, which the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio has asked him to do.